


Tapping Away

by Kona



Category: Marvel (Comics), Marvel 616, The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types, Young Avengers
Genre: Bonding, Canon Compliant, Comfort, Fluff, Found Family, Gen, Getting to know one another, Mother Son Bonding, i just want them to be happy pls
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-01-15
Updated: 2015-01-15
Packaged: 2018-03-07 16:12:31
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,156
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3176967
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Kona/pseuds/Kona
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Three months into living with the Kaplans, Tommy feels like he’s going to explode. He needed to get out-needed to go anywhere.</p><p>So he packed up a backpack full of clothing and school work and ran.<br/>He didn't expect to end up in his (almost) home town.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Tapping Away

**Author's Note:**

> I just want this dumb family to be happy. This settles in nicely in the whole left by Children's Crusade and just before the beginning of Avengers Vs X-Men. It's pretty fun. I get the feeling Tommy would be such a mama's boy. But that's just me.

Three months into living with the Kaplans, Tommy feels like he’s going to explode.  He had started his G.E.D. two months ago at his Mrs. Kaplan’s urgings, and he’d been going to night classes to pick up some stuff he had missed inside juvie, which wasn’t bad on its own. But the worst had been dealing with his nearly comatose brother, whose life consisted of waking up, going to school with Teddy, getting picked up by Tommy, and then sitting in the windowsill for the rest of the night. Listening to Teddy making excuses for Billy was enough to make Tommy want to scream.

It wasn’t supposed to be like this. They were supposed to have closure, damn it. Finally validated for their lineage, and finally not considered children by the Avengers. Tommy had a roof over his head, and wasn’t in a cell being poked and prodded at. Tommy still felt like he was going stir crazy. He needed to get out-needed to go anywhere.

So he packed up a backpack full of clothing and school work and ran.

He ran for half a day around the country. Makes stops in L.A and thinks about crashing with the Runaways, but stops himself from finishing the thought. He ran back across the country and ends up back in New Jersey-of all places. He knew he should just keep running but something stops him in the town he was supposedly born in twenty something years ago. He’d been here before with Billy, searching for answers, but when he didn’t get any he hadn’t thought he’d be here again.

In his survey of the town the last time he was here, he knew there was a coffee shop in the center of town, and since he was already here, he figured it was as good a place as any to do work. He walked, trying to pick out places that he would have gone to as a kid back when he was alive the first time. It was still something too heavy to wrap his mind around at times, and he made him bitter sometimes.

Why couldn’t he have had the childhood that he deserved? He’d read the files. The family he had been a part of had been happy. There would have been no trips to the school guidance counselor for behavior and yelling parents and being slapped and drinking and no juvie. In short life would have sucked so much less. How come Billy got to have a perfect life the second time around and he ended up with the short of the stick?

It wasn’t fair.

He forewent walking, speeding through the streets towards the center of the town. Introspection was the enemy. His thoughts would get going too fast and then it would be the worst trying to break the pace back to normal speed. The coffee stop was smaller than he thought-but that was fine. He didn’t need too much room. He ordered a muffin and a hot chocolate and spread his school work across his table by the window.

He was about an hour into calculus when his light was suddenly blocked out. He tapped his pencil against the paper and clicked his tongue as he raised his head, ready to chew the person out, but stopped short-

“Thomas?”

Tommy gulped, looking up in awe, “Uh, yeah. Hi Wanda,” because what else was he supposed to say? She’d appeared out of the blue, dressed in civvies-he’d never seen her out of her iconic outfit. She looked so different in a dark red sweater and jeans, but there was no mistaking that she was someone special. He hadn’t seen her in months, and the last time had been with Billy at the Kaplan’s house.

“What are you doing here? I thought you were staying with the Kaplans?”

“Couldn’t breathe,” Tommy mumbled, the tapping of his pencil speeding up. The way Wanda’s mouth turned down told Tommy she understood what he meant, “What’re you doing here?”

“I needed to get away from New York City for a while. I’m not really an Avenger, not quite an X-Man, so…” Wanda crossed her arms around her middle and trailed off. Tommy stopped tapping his pencil and kicked the chair across from him out a bit, nodding to it. Wanda smiled and Tommy felt his heart lurch a little. Her smile was almost like sunshine-it was like when Karolina smiled at people-but this was a different kind of sunshine, one Tommy couldn’t quite place.

Wanda sat gracefully, and she surveyed Tommy’s school work with careful eyes. “Calculus?”

“Yeah. ‘M working on my G.E.D. so I’m doing all the work,” Tommy started tapping again and tried to keep from staring too closely at his ‘mother’. He hazarded a peek at her though, and the look of pride on her face was clear. The pencil began to tap faster.

“That’s wonderful. When Carol told me that you and your team stopped appearing in public I was worried about you and your brother,” Wanda leaned against the table with her elbows, tucking her chin over her hands, “How is it going?”

“It’s a pain sometimes, but it’s not like it’s totally unmanageable. Better than going to regular high school at least,” Tommy explained, looking over the problem he was working on before Wanda showed up, “Math’s the biggest pain because I can’t rush through it.”

Wanda chuckled softly and Tommy was shocked at how easy it seemed to be for her to talk to him. Considering the one of last time she saw him he had spent half the time yelling about how she was just going to die, he was surprised she even wanted to talk to him.

"How is William?"

Tommy grimaced, his pencil's eraser stilling on the page, "Not good. He's uh...He's not taking the whole 'this mission was my idea and now two of my friends are dead and a whole bunch of mutants can never get their powers back' thing." he ran a hand through his hair, "Ted can only do so much for him. And he won't listen to me or his younger brothers so it's just like talking to a wall. He's quit being Wiccan, really."

Wanda's face fell and Tommy felt his gut twist in guilt. He started tapping his pencil again as he ducks his head. That was probably too much to say. He should have just lied. He shouldn't have said a _thing_ -he's an idiot-he should just run right now he should-

Wanda's hand on top his own snapped him from his thoughts, and its only when she does so that he realized his pencil's eraser had been burnt off by how fast he had been tapping it. Her eyes were steadying and his gut untwists almost instantly. He lets out a long breath and he put the pencil down. He looks up to his mother-the one he should have had.

"Was I born first, or was Billy?"

Wanda blinked, and then laughed in such a way that Tommy found it hard to believe this woman could ever do anything wrong. She fought a grin as she answered. "You were born first. In fact, Billy wasn't even supposed to be born. Dr. Strange only sensed you."

"Wait so I was gonna be an only child? Why did no one see Billy?"

Wanda shrugged, leaning back into her hands, "We assume now it's due to Billy's magic. He deals in illusions and reality-so we assume that he simply willed himself not to be seen."

Tommy groaned, tipping his chair back, "Or course he would. Freaking stupid little brother."

Wanda laughed again, and tipped her head to the side, "Why the curiosity? If I may ask."

Tommy shuffled his feet under the table, staring down his unfinished calculus. "I just...I mean-” he doesn't know if it's right to say anything-if he even has the right to say it but-- "I just wanna know what it would have been like if we uh...we..."

"If we had been a family?"

Tommy almost flinched at the softness in Wanda's voice. He looked up at her and took in her face. Sad eyes, a soft smile, and a face so heartbreakingly full of love that Tommy wanted to reach over at once and hug her. His voice died in his throat as he nodded his head with a quick jerk.

"I've thought of it since I remembered you two. I'm sure that you were told about the whole mess that happened when you two died?" Tommy nodded again and Wanda shook her head, her curls obscuring her face. "When you died, I did not take it well-I was rather frightened to remember you two again. I was scared that perhaps I would..."

"Go crazy again?"

Wanda nodded, a small smirk on her face, "Your father won't even speak to me because of what I did then. I found comfort in knowing that you and William were safe in New York. The Kaplans are lovely people.”

“But it still sucks, right?”

Wanda jerks a bit at that, and Tommy levels his gaze with Wanda’s shocked eyes. It’s a moment before she sighs, her shoulders slumping slightly, “Yes. Yes it does.”

“I’m sorry. That all that stupid shit with Mephisto happened and we-I mean-I’m just sorry things didn’t work out.” Tommy stumbles over his words, fighting the urge to speed up his speech as it often happened when he got nervous. Wanda reaches out again and takes Tommy’s hand.

“I am too. But I am glad for a second chance, even if it is rather unorthodox one.” Wanda’s smile grows a bit more and she squeezes Tommy’s hand tighter.

“When are things ever easy for this family though? We’re a hot mess, Mom.” Tommy grins, the title slipping past his lips without a thought. It shocks him and Wanda both and his heart stutters in his chest loudly as he yanks his hand back to drag it through his hair-attempting to look everywhere but Wanda’s face. Why’d he say that? It was too soon-too much-he wasn’t even sure he bought into this in the first place-“Shit-I mean-”

Tommy can feel himself start to vibrate, his body positively humming with nervous energy as he peeks out from under his bangs to look at Wanda again. There was that smile again, the sunshine one.

“No, it’s okay, Tommy,” Wanda whispers, her voice thick with emotion, “It’s okay, honey.”

Her eyes are starting to glisten and Tommy stops vibrating slowly but surely. These words were ones he hadn’t heard for years. His birth mother hadn’t said those words in years. And here was Wanda-willing to say them when he hasn’t even known her for more than a year.

_‘It’s okay.’_

“Um. Hey I-Uh...I’m almost done with this work-if you wanted to do something? Like hit a movie or something?” Tommy rambles, his words spilling out of his mouth, “Something totally not superhero-ish or anything.”

Wanda’s face breaks into a grin as she nods, “The movie theater in this town shows classics. I think they’re doing horror films right now.”

“I love horror films. Billy can’t stand it when it’s my turn to pick movies. He gets squeamish really quickly.”

Wanda laughs at that, “Pietro is the same way. And horror films are my favorite too.”

Tommy snaps his notebook shut and stuffs it in his backpack, “Twins, am I right?” he slings his backpack over his shoulder and stands, “Well, let’s go. I want to get as much horror film time to rub in Billy’s face that I can.”

Wanda stands, brushing off her pant legs, and nods, “While I don’t agree with trying to one up your brother, I agree. Let’s be off then.”

The two exit the shop, and the pressure urging Tommy to run lessens and is replaced with a sense of calm that he hadn’t felt in a long time. He could almost liken it to the feeling after a long and hard run.

It felt good. He felt happy.

_iMessage_  

6:45 pm

 **Obnoxious Lil Bro** : Hey, Tommy where are you? It’s almost time for dinner.

**Me** : I’m gonna miss dinner tonight.

 **Obnoxious Lil Bro** : Why? Where are you??

 **Me** : I’m in New Jersey watching horror movies with the Scarlet Witch.

 **Obnoxious Lil Bro** : What-HOW???

 **Me** : Dude. My name is Speed. Duh.

 **Obnoxious Lil Bro** : You know what I mean!

 **Me** : We met up in a cafe and now we’re watching horror films.

**  
  
**

**Me** : Get jelly dude. I rock.

 **Obnoxious Lil Bro** : Get bent.

**  
  
**

**Me** : Mom says get a life.

**  
  
**

**Me** : Not really. She says hi and hopes Teddy is treating you well.

 **Me** : I told her you’re gross and gay together in public and she laughed.

 **Obnoxious Lil Bro** : Omg just stop talking

 **  
  
  
** **Obnoxious Lil Bro** **:** Tell her I say hi though

 **Me** : Duh.


End file.
